The present invention relates to the field of Internet communication, and more particularly to a method and system for obtaining customer information through the customer's access to an Internet website.
The importance of the Internet continues to expand as both an information gathering tool and an electronic commerce conduit. Consumers can access various websites to gather information as casual users or target particular sites to obtain information regarding the products and services they wish to purchase. Secure data lines, encryption techniques, and other various mechanisms exist to protect those consumers wishing to make purchases over the Internet's communication pathways.
Despite these advancements, however, many of consumers still view Internet transactions and purchases with trepidation and skepticism. The reluctance to provide sensitive information and transaction security are among the biggest fears associated with electronic commerce via the Internet. Many people also feel that the risk of transmitting credit card account information is greater than the convenience such transactions provide.
Furthermore, consumers are also often uncertain as to whether an initiated purchase is actually completed. E-mail or faxed confirmation messages are used to alleviate these concerns, but in some cases confirmation is not certain until the product is received, the service is activated, or the purchase appears on the consumer's credit card statement. As such, most purchases, even those researched or initiated with the resources of the Internet, are still completed with the aid of human interaction and communication.
A person researching a product or service, for example, will likely visit a website and gather the information required to make a decision. Once the purchasing decision has been made, the customer contacts a transaction center by telephone to place an order. At the transaction center, a customer service representative (CSR) must interrogate the customer for information regarding the customer's purchase, which often results in a duplication of effort at least from the customer's standpoint. The customer has already taken the time to look through the on-line catalogue and locate the desired product or service, and in doing so the customer may have provided other, less sensitive, information to gain access to the website, such as the customer's name, affiliation, address, and e-mail address. When the customer then contacts the CSR, he or she must repeat the effort and provide this information again to complete the desired transaction.
One reason such duplication is necessary is that currently, when customers contact the transaction center, the CSR has limited access to a caller's identification information. Caller Line ID (CLID), for example, can provide the CSR with the customer's name and telephone number, but can do nothing to speed the response to a customer's particular need or purchase desires. CLID information is stored at a public telephone network, then delivered and displayed at a receiving display device when the call connection is completed. The company may also maintain a customer database to store the customer's ordering history or previous dealings with the company. When the customer calls and is identified, the CSR may access the database and view the customer's previous purchases. This feature allows a better and more complete interaction between the CSR and the customer, but would do nothing to identify the particular purchase the consumer wishes to make.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are also used by transaction centers to determine a customer's information and purchasing requirements or preferences. These systems allow screening of customer calls through a series of commands initiated on a touch-tone phone. Generally, a customer is guided through a number of instructions and asked to make selections based upon his or her particular requirements. By screening the call and routing in accordance with the results, the CSR will have a better understand of the customer's requirements. The prevalence of IVR systems and their limited capabilities, however, may be frustrating and unnecessarily time-consuming for the consumer when more direct human interaction is desired.
Therefore, it is desirable to allow a CSR greater and more readily available access to a customer's information and preferences. It is also desirable to permit a purchasing request, researched through the Internet, to be more readily acted upon when a call placing an order is received at transaction center. In addition, it is further desirable to allow the customer's information and preferences be used as a real-time customized marketing tool when the customer is in contact with the company's website. The tool would permit webpages, created in accordance to a customer's preferences, to be viewed by the customer when the company's website or related website location is visited.